A mailpiece insertion system or a “mailpiece inserter” is commonly employed for producing mailpieces intended for mass mail communications. Such mailpiece inserters are typically used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies and utility companies for producing a large volume of specific mail communications where the contents of each mailpiece are directed to a particular addressee. Also, other organizations, such as direct mailers, use mailpiece inserters for producing mass mailings where the contents of each mailpiece are substantially identical with respect to each addressee.
In many respects, a typical inserter system resembles a manufacturing assembly line. Sheets and other raw materials (i.e., a web of paper stock, enclosures, and envelopes) enter the inserter system as inputs. Various modules or workstations in the inserter system work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mail piece is produced. Typically, inserter systems prepare mailpieces by arranging preprinted sheets of material into a collation, i.e., the content material of the mail piece, on a transport deck. The collation of preprinted sheets may continue to a chassis module where additional sheets or inserts may be added based upon predefined criteria, e.g., an insert being sent to addressees in a particular geographic region. Subsequently, the collation may be folded and placed into envelopes. Once filled, the envelopes are closed, sealed, weighed, and sorted. A postage meter may then be used to apply postage indicia based upon the weight and/or size of the mailpiece.
While, in the past, inserter systems were limited to combining mailpiece content material with a mailpiece envelop, i.e., inserting content material in an envelope, inserter systems currently offer a wide variety of features including the ability to: (i) modify, group, and manipulate mailpiece content, (ii) read, interpret and extract information from the print stream/content material and (iii) monitor, record and store information relating to the processing status of each mailpiece for the purposes of correcting and reprinting mailpieces or for use by downstream processes such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
As inserters have become more advanced and sophisticated, the set-up and programming requirements of these machines have become commensurately more complex and difficult. As a result, it has become a necessity for the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of such mailpiece inserters to become intimately familiar with the operations/needs of customers to define the commands/instructions of the mailpiece inserter for its proper/efficient operation. While such communication between customer and the OEM provides a unique opportunity to develop rules/commands for use by the inserter, it will be appreciated that, should changes be required to the original set-up/rules, the cost associated with subsequent modification (once again requiring the unique skills and knowledge of the OEM) can be prohibitive.
A need, therefore, exists for an method which facilitates the creation, manipulation and printing of documents in a mailpiece inserter system.